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LIBRRRY OF CONGRESS 



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HolUnger 

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Mill Run F3-1 955 




MY SERVICE IN THE U. S. 
COLORED CAVALRY 




A PAPER READ BEFORE 



THE OHIO COMMANDERY OF THE LOYAL LEGION 



MARCH 4, 1908 



BY 



FREDERICK W. BROWNE, Second Lieut. 
1ST U. S. Colored Cavalry 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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of 

S^ccon^ fiicitt. let %L §. ffiolorcb ffiawalvy 

of 
Cincinnati, ©Ijio, 

|^crtt» before ©l^c ®ljic» ®oinmajit>cra 
of ®l)e gotjal Region, 

^avch 4, J 908. 



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•' EXCHANGE 



MY SERVICE IN THE U.S. COLORED CAVALRY 

Having- served over two years in a good, hard-tiglitiiig infantry 
regiment, and being encamped at Xewport News, \'a., holding the 
dignified rank of Sergeant. I one da\- met onr little fighting Major 
John G. Chambers who asked me if I unuld like a commission in the 
1st U. S. Colored Cavalry, then forming at Fort Monroe, to which I 
made answer that I wonld. and two or three days thereafter I received 
an order, mustering me out of the service and also an order to report 
to Colonel (iarrard for duty as an officer of the new regiment. Early 
the next morning, going down to the wharf to embark for Ft. Monroe. 
I showed to the sentry on the wharf (as my authority for leaving) the 
order nnistering me out. lie looke<l it over and said in a home-sick 
way, "I would give $800 for that paper." 1 reported to Colonel Gar- 
rard, and for the first time saw this officer with whose reputation as a 
brave and efficient Major of the od N. Y. Cavalry T had been well 
acquainted in the Department of Xorth Carolina. This regiment, 
being the first colored cavalry regiment, had in its ranks a rather better 
class of men than the infantry regiments had ; some being from the 
North and some being the outlaw negroes who, in slavery times, had 
been able to maintain their liberty in the swamps of Eastern Virginia 
and North Carolina. The regiment was officered largely from the 3d N. 
Y. Cavalry, and they were a thoroughly efficient and capable corps of 
officers. The regiment was soon filled, mounted and equipped, and 
constant drill soon made it have the manner and bearing of soldiers. 
Every one knew that the Campaign of ISG-t meant business, and there- 
fore all was in readiness when about May 1st orders came to move. 
We marched out through Hampton, of which not one house was left 
except the little old stone church which is still standing there. Through 
Big Bethel, the scene of one of the earliest disasters of the war, to 
Yorktown, memorable for its two sieges in two wars, and thence on 
to Williamsburg, passing between Yorktown and Williamsburg our 
infantry who, much to our surprise were marching very hurriedly back 
to Yorktown. We learned afterward they \vere put on board trans- 
ports at Yorktown and sent up the James to City Point and Bermuda 
Hundred. The next day we went up the Peninsula, passing 6 and 12 
Mile and burnt ordinarys, camping at night at New Kent Court House. 
1 commanded the picket that night on the Bottoms Bridge Road and 



the enemy's scouts were against us all night, keeping matters well 
stirred up. The next morning we turned South and met the enemy at 
Jones Ford on the Chickahominy. They were in an earthwork across 
the Ford and we opened on them with our howitzers in front and de- 
ployed as to cross in front, but a force was sent to the right up stream 
who managed to cross, and, coming down on the opposite side of the 
river, took the enemy in flank and soon drove them away from the 
ford. Killing some and capturing some of the enemy, and having some 
killed and wounded, our movement having been a feint to make the 
enemy believe that Butler's Army of the James, as it was afterward 
called, was moving up the Peninsula, having been accomplished, we 
returned to Williamsburg, arriving there the next day, where, to our 
astonishmentj we met an order to go back at once and cross the Chick- 
ahominy at Jones Ford, sometimes called Jones Bridge^ and proceed 
to Harrison's Landing, which we at once did, again fighting our way 
across at Jones Ford. Steamers were lying at the wharf in front of the 
old Westover mansion, and, going on board, we were soon thereafter 
landed at Bermuda Hundred and passing out took the advai^cc of 
Butler's /Vrmy, being at the time the only cavalry he had. The lirst 
day out we came to the Richmond and Petersburg turnpike and turning 
to the right on said pike started "on to Richmond," but as the road 
approached Drewry's Blufif we were fired on by both infantry and artil- 
lery and forced back with loss. Halting and feeding at the Howlett 
House, a fine mansion on a high blufif overlooking the James, where the 
Confederates afterward erected a strong battery to hold back our Navy 
from ascending the river. In the afternoon we started out again on 
the same road with orders to break the Richmond & Petersburg R. R., 
which ran parallel with the pike ; beyond the pike, when we cror.sed, 
we left three companies to guard and hold the crossing which was in a 
low swamp and heavily wooded ground. The remainder of the force 
passed through the swamp up a steep hill, and when we were fairly on 
top of the hill there came a crashing volley of musketry down behind 
us at the crossing, and looking down to the pike we saw the fragments 
of those three companies drift down the pike toward Petersburg like 
dry leaves before an autumn gale. A brigade of Confederate infantry 
was concealed in that swamp, who, letting us pass, thinking they had 
us cut off and securely bagged, had then simply risen and fired a volley 
at close range into these three companies. This volley killed Lieutenant 
Mains and killed and wounded a good many of the men. When we 



heard the volley. Lieutenant \'an(lcrvoort, commanclin<2^ the howitzer?;, 
tore down the fence, nmnin.^- his t^uns out into an open field on tlie 
brow of the liill, ()])cnt'(l fire on the confederate infantry: Init the 
Colonel did not think our position was just what he desired, as we now 
had the confederate infantry behind us and we knew the confederate 
cavalry was guardin.Q- the R. R. in front of us. These we went out 
expecting^ to flight but were not reckonin.i^ on the infantry, so we started 
on toward the R. R., seekinp^ another road to return to our own lines 
and soon found one into which we turned at a gallop. Just as we did 
so the Confederate Cavalry, whose curiosity had been excited bv the 
firing, and had come down the road to meet us. poured a volley into 
us, the bullets rattling on the wooden fence at the turn of the road like 
hail. This did not retard our speed and we came back into our infantry 
lines in such a cloud of dust that they sprang into line to meet us. The 
next morning we again struck the Richmond and Petersburg I'ike 
and turned toward Richmond, this time with the infantry behind us, 
and we soon struck the enemy's infantry near where they had fired on 
the three companies the day before and we soon turned over the task to 
our infantry. We lined up along the side of the pike with our horses' 
tails in the bushes and the infantry and artillery defiled past us. going 
from our left to our right into action. Among the infantry was the 
()th Connecticut, armed entirely with Spencer rifles. Just beyond the 
right of our regiment the pike crossed a low ridge or swell of ground, 
and on this ridge in the pike our peo])lc planted a couple of 20 pounder 
Parrott guns and opened with them on the enemy. This fire the 
enemy's artillery quickly returned, and I was sitting on my horse lazily 
watching our men work the pieces and the constantly recurring i)uffs 
of white smoke as the confederate shells burst over their heads when 
suddenly 1 noticed a commotion among the gunners who came running 
back down the pike with their rammers and swabs in their hands, and 
the teams with the caissons and limbers came back on the run and 
immediately the confederate infantry swarmed over the guns. 1 was 
no longer sleepy. It looked as if the cavalry was going to have a 
chance to win more glory, but our infantry was too quick, and with a 
counter charge they at once retook the guns. The gunners and 
the teams ran back, and immediately the guns were again jumping 
like mad creatures under the recoil of tlieir discharge. Of the battle 
beyond this ridge I could see nothing, but the firing was heavy and at 
once there came from the front, defiling past us to the rear, a ghastb 



6 

procession of men wounded in every way in which men could be 
wounded and still retain the power of locomotion. Among them was a 
stout, hearty sergeant of this 6th Connecticut regiment limping to the 
rear, using two muskets as crutches. The calf of his right leg had been 
struck by a solid shot or unexploded shell. Though no bones had been 
broken, there was nothing left of the calf but bloody strings of fiesh 
and trouser leg. But we were getting too near Richmond, and during 
the next day or two the enemy in our front was very heavily reinforced 
and outflanking our right Heckman's Brigade, impetuously attacked 
at the earliest dawn along the whole front. Heckman's Brigade was 
veteran troops who had heretofore had only victories and it fought 
with stubborn temper, but the confederates finally advanced with such 
a rush that they ran over Heckman's Brigade and left it, the dead and 
wounded and living in the rear of the confederate line of battle, not 
even stopping to place guards in charge ; and a good many of our men, 
finding they were not restrained, passed down to the left, around the 
left of the confederate line and got back once more into our own lines, 
thus missing the pleasures of Andersonville. 

The battle raged all day and only ceased with darkness. During 
the night Butler decided to withdraw his army within his fortified 
lines at Bermuda Hundred. Our cavalry picket line was ordered to 
hold its place only until the enemy advanced and then fall back also, 
within the fortified lines. Personally I was in command of that part 
of the line at Weirs Bottom Church where we had a howitzer. The 
infantry retired during the night, and in the morning we were unsup- 
ported except for the fortified lines about 3 or 4 miles in our rear. We 
had the howitzer loaded with shell and aimed at the road where it 
crossed the low hill back of the Howlett House, but the enemy were 
in no hurry to close in, and it was about 3 o'clock P. M. when, looking 
at this point in the road where our howitzer was aimed, I saw 8 or 10 
confederate cavalry slowly and watchfully advancing. They were 
just where the howitzer was aimed and we fired on them at once, but 
they jumped their horses to the right and left out of the road like cats, 
and when the shell got there, there was nothing but the road for it to 
hit. They scattered to the right and left across the fields and carefully 
inspected our position but did nothing further on that part of the line. 

I had been in the saddle night and day and was thoroughly worn 
out and was more than half sick with malarial fever, and so after dark, 
holding my horse's reins in my hands, I sat down at the road side with 



my back to the trunk of a tree, never dreaming" of p^oing to sleep, but 
alas, the next thing- 1 knew \ heard the Captain of my Company, who 
had commanded the line a little lo the left, give the command, "Fours 
right, gallop, march," and away the\' all went in the darkness, leaving 
me alone in the woods. 15e sure 1 was on my feet Irving to gather a 
few of my scattered senses, when suddenly I heard a horse whining 
in the darkness, out a short distance in the woods, and rushing head- 
long in the direction of the sound, ran bodily against my horse who 
was quietly browsing on the young leaves. Mounting at once and spur- 
ring out into the road, started on the gallop down the road after the 
company ; but soon coming to where the road forked, and not knowing 
where any of the roads led, as we were retiring on a different road 
from the one we went out on, 1 checked the horse to a walk and let him 
have his head and go where he pleased, and taking a good swinging- 
stride with his head low he went on his way without hesitation. For 
myself, T drew a revolver and cocked and held it ready for what might 
happen. Going on thus for about an hour I suddenly heard in the 
darkness in front of me, the jingle of horse equipments and at once 
the challenge, ''Who comes there?" To this I at once answered. "A 
friend," and riding up with my revolver in ni}- hand found one of the 
men of my own company. Asking where the company was, I rode 
on to the bivouac and dismounting, with ni\- saddle for a pillow, slept. 
Thus I believe I was the last nian of that whole army to retire from the 
front of the enemy, but I never called the ( General's attention to the 
fact. As General Grant said, we were bottled up at l>ermuda Hundred 
and the enemy used to amuse himself by firing on the transports going 
up and down the river below Bermuda Hundred, espcciallv at a high 
bluff commanding the river, called Fort Powhatan. So Butler sent 
mv company of cavalry and a battery of artillery and a regiment of 
infantry to hold and fortify the place. The artillen- and infantry forti- 
fied toward the land with the river at their backs and the cavalry bivou- 
acked outside the fortification. We scouted the country out toward 
Petersburg and brought in supplies of all sorts, among which were 
several fish seines, and with these we caught some fine shad, and with 
rowing and bathing we had a good time. 

One morning an "intelligent contraband" came into camp and I 
asked him where he came from. He .said he was a slave on the plan- 
tation of Mr. Wilcox, whose plantation was up the river. I was inter- 
ested in horses and he told mc that ^^r. Wilcox, who was an officer in 



8 

the 2d Virginia Cavalry, had a vcr\ line horse at home, resting and 
feeding up, and was now in first rate shape. That it was broken only 
to the saddle. The more I thought of this horse the worse I felt, and 
so I soon took my saddle and bridle, and strapping on a revolver, went 
down to the river and had a couple of our men row me up till we were 
opposite the Wilcox plantation, when I went ashore, and shouldering 
my saddle and bridle told the men to row back to camp, and going up 
across the fields went into the stable and without difficulty found the 
horse. Saddling and bridling him, I mounted and rode out past the 
house where I saw some ladies but did not speak to them. That horse 
was a beauty, and he went over fences, ditches, etc., like a bird. His 
color was a dark bay. A creek runs into the James River between the 
Wilcox plantation and Fort Powhatan and I had to ride about a mile 
back into the country before I could find a ford. I put the horse on a 
gallop to the ford, crossed and started back toward camp ; , when 
across the fields to the right, on a converging road, I saw a squad of 
confederate cavalry. It was a race for the fork of the roads, but I was 
the better mounted and got there first and came into our lines flying. 
(3ne of the men said, "For God's sake. Lieutenant, don't conie in that 
way again, we came near shooting you." I tied my prize to the picket 
line and felt that I had done a good thing. 

When we first went there Colonel Kiddoo was in command, but he 
had been superseded by another. About (i o'clock an orderly appeared 
and gave me an order to report at headquarters, and upon so reporting, 
the Commander opened on me with "I understand you have been out- 
side the lines without leave." I said, "Colonel Kiddoo gave me a stand- 
ing authority to scout as I deemed proper," whereupon I was informed 
that said authority was revoked. Then the Commander said, 'T under- 
stand you stole a fine horse and brought him into the lines, to this I 
said, 'T could prove that he was a confederate cavalry horse and I did 
not need any authority to capture him." Whereupon he said, "Have 
that horse here at my headquarters to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock." 
and I went back to camp determined to. in the morning, take the worst 
horse from the picket line and send him up to headquarters, but that 
night a courier rode into our camp with orders to go on board the 
steamer on which he came, then lying at the landing, and report to our 
regiment at F:)ermuda Hundred. I took the horse up the river with me 
and about midnight we joined the regiment and soon had our picket 
line stretched and the horses fastened and stable guard mounted. I 



9 

saw my prize beauty securely fastened and went to bed. The first thing 
the next morning I went out to see him, and he had disappeared. The 
stable guard swore that no horse got loose and no human being ap- 
proached the line during the night, but my horse was gone and I am 
still looking for him. Still shut up in the Hermuda Hundred lines, 
cavalry was of but little use there, but one day headquarters decided to 
make use of us and an order came to cam]) for the regiment to report 
at a certain point near the line at !• o'clock F. M., in light marching 
order, and we were there. An orderly rode along the line with word 
for all officers to report at the right of the regiment. Going there, the 
Colonel informed us that the order was that the regiment was to pass 
out through the lines, and as soon as the head of the column was fired 
on by the enemy it was to charge right through the fortified lines of 
the confederate army, and getting through to its rear onto Richmond 
and Petersburg Pike, and destroy all confederate wagon trains and 
then pass on and tear up as much as possible of the Richmond & Peters- 
burg R. R., and then when pursued by a superior force to escape west- 
erly into the Shenandoah X'alley or eastwardly to Xorfolk. 1 ma\- say 
that so far as I ever knew there was not so much as a hatchet in the 
regiment with which to destroy anything, or a match with which to set 
the fragments on fire, and as we rode back to the company I said to m\ 
Captain, "Well! somebody is drunk at headquarters." to whicli hv 
made no response in particular, seeming engaged in thought. The 
regiment at once started down the road into the dark pine woods and 
presently came to our infantry outposts, who informed us that the 
enemy were right in front and we would be fired on at once, whicli 
was exactly what hapjiened, and, according to orders, as soon as the 
Confederate infantry opened on us the order to charge was given, and 
on we went at a galloj), but were soon brought u]) in a heap. The head 
of the column had run into a heavy slashing of felled trees, among 
which, and in the woods on both sides of which was a hoav\ force of 
Confederate infantry. T was at the middle of the column, and. looking 
down the road to the front, in tlie darkness the fire of the Confederate 
infantry looked like a swam]3 full of fire flies. The men in the head of 
the column were firing on the Confederates with their revolvers. The 
Colonel was at the front, and seeing the hopelessness of the situation, 
gave the command. "Fours, right about, gallop, march." but it was 
slow getting the command back to the rear of the column, and I supj)ose 
we were in there about 20 mimites. /\ while after this the white cav- 



10 

airy became so short of horses that we were dismounted, the ofificers. 
of course, retaining" their own horses, and the regiment moved back 
into a camp near the landing at Bermuda Hundred. While here one 
of our Lieutenants, named Bittner, got into a quarrel with the sutler, 
and, taking about ten men with their carbines, went to the sutler's tent 
and ordered his men to tear it down, which they proceeded to do when 
the sutler came out with a revolver and blazed away at Bittner's head, 
putting a bullet through his jaw, into his throat, whereupon Bittner's 
men opened fire on the sutler with their carbines and the sutler ran for 
his life, the men chasing him and firing as fast as they could, and 
managed to put a bullet through the sutler's lungs from rear to front. 
He ran into the adjutant's tent, and, falling on his cot_, died there; 
and a few minutes afterwards they brought Bittner into camp on a 
board. He survived the wound. A few days thereafter Lieutenant 
Spencer, bv the Colonel's order, shot one of the men dead in his tracks 
for disobedience of orders. We lay there in camp for a while, and 
then were sent into the lines about Petersburg, and details were made 
each dav to act as ambulance corps and haul away the dead and 
wounded, who were all the time falling on the siege lines. While 
engaged in this work one day, two men got into a quarrel and one of 
them shot the other one dead in the Company street. He was at once 
arrested and tried by general court martial, and one day he was 
brought into camp b}- the provost guard with an order that he be hanged 
at once in the presence of the regiment. So a squad was sent into the 
woods to prepare the scaffold, and another went to the quartermaster's 
train for a piece of rope, and another dug the grave. It was a drizzly 
day and the ground wet, so the grave soon filled with water. The regi- 
ment was drawn up on three sides of a square around the grave and 
the prisoner was brought in an old farm cart, drawn by hand. The 
rope was adjusted around his neck, and then the cart was drawn out 
from under him, but the rope was new and wet and he hung dangling 
and kicking in the air, so the old grizzle bearded sergeant, who had 
charge of the execution squad, took hold cf his feet and pulled down 
till he broke the prisoner's neck, and so the performance was ended. 

Late in the fall of 1864 we were sent to Norfolk, Va., to do Pro- 
vost Guard duty, and were there to the end of the war. Norfolk was 
at that time the base of supplies, so to speak, of the great armies up 
the James, and of the great naval establishment which we at that time 
had. Its inhabitants were chiefly gamblers, thieves, saloon keepers and 



11 

prostitutes, and out in the roads lay the fleets of France, Great Britain, 
Russia a:i(l ihe United States, and when the sailors got shore leave, 
things at i.:i;c- :^ot very hot ; in fact, on two or three occasions we were 
obliged to fire on the fightii g mobs in the streets to disentangle them. 
After Lee's sunendcr all the colored troops in the East were col- 
krted at City Point and organized into the ^^th Corps. It was under- 
stood, we were going to Mexico to fight the I'rcnch and Maximillian 
but strange stories got around among the colored troops. The story 
being that tl e Government was going to send them south to work on 
the cotton i a-. nations to pay the national debt, and many went to their 
officers to ask if it was true, and, being assured there was no truth in 
it, would declare themselves satisfied ; but a marked change came over 
them, and they became sullen and disobedient. 

This increaed. H'ld when half of my regiment was put on a small, 
light draft river steamer, to go down the James River to Hampton 
Roads, they went aboard with no good grace and we had only begun 
our journev down the river when the men on the lower deck began 
firing at objects on the shore. I was on the upper deck, and, drawing 
mv revolver, started down to sto]) the firing, but I had got but half 
way down when a dozen carbines were put to my head and breast, and 
I was told that I could kill one man, but it would be the last one I ever 
would kill, and hundreds were standing around with their carbines in 
their hands. The argument was convincing, and I returned to the 
upper deck. Shortly after they either run out of ammunition or got 
tired of the sport, as the\" ceased firing. When we got to Hampton 
Roads and went on board the steamship Meteor, which was to take 
us to Texas, we found that the other half of the regiment had also 
mutinied on their way down the river, and when the whole regiment 
got together on the decks of the Meteor and compared notes of what 
they had done, they just went wild, and, refusing to obey all orders, 
began raising the devil generall}'. It was already dark when we went 
on board the Meteor, and during the night word was sent to Gen. 
Nelson A. Miles, the commandant of Ft. Monroe. He sent orders for 
the regiment to land at the wharf at eight o'clock the next morning, 
and when the steamship headed for the wharf the men very readily 
fell in at the order, supposing they were to have their own way and not 
be sent south. The wharf was then where it is now, between the 
Chamberlain and llygeia Hotels, tliougli neither of those hotels were 
there at the time. Approaching the wharf we >aw the garrison of Ft. 



12 

Monroe drawn up in line about loO feet from the beach, on the exact 
spot where the Hygeia Hotel was afterward built. They were facing- 
the water, and when my regiment went ashore it was marched in be- 
tween the garrison and the water, and then the order was given to 
ground arms. Many obeyed the order at once, but many hesitated 
and looked back at the garrison, and then all laid down their arms. 
They were at once marched back on board the ship, and the ship re- 
turned to her anchorage above the Rip Raps. This was the first and 
last time I ever saw Gen. Nelson A. Miles. He was a tall, handsome, 
blonde complexioned young man of about 25 years of age, who wore 
the straps of a Major-General with dignity and honor. When the ship 
returned to her moorings the men at first seemed dazed, but as the day 
wore on they became more and more unruly, and presently we found 
thev had broken into the hold of the ship into the sutler's stores and 
were all hands getting wild drunk. They were shut out from this, but 
they already had a good supply hidden under their skins and elsewhere, 
and they went wild. Just about sunset a big pock-marked mulatto got 
on top of the pilot house near the bows of the ship and was haranguing 
the crowds on the deck below him, when he turned, and, shaking his 
fist at the group of officers on the quarter deck, he said, ""You damned 

white livered of we will throw you overboard," at which a 

great howl went up from his audience, whereupon three of the officers 
with their revolvers in their hands forced their way through the crowd 
and jerked the orator off the pilot house and dragged him back on the 
quarterdeck where Capt. Whiteman, of Xenia. Ohio, put his pistol to 
his breast and told him to hold up liis hands and put his thumbs to- 
gether. We were going to swing him up to the rigging by his two 
thumljs, but the fellow simply folded his arms and looked at his captors 
with an air of drunken bravado. Whiteman told him three times to 
hold up his hands, but he made no motion to obey and Whiteman fired. 
I was standing at Whiteman's left and was looking the man in the face 
when the shot was fired, and he did not change a muscle, and I thought 
Whiteman had missed him. but, looking down to his breast, I saw blood 
reddening his shirt front, and at once his arms dropped limply at his 
sides and he fell in a heap at our feet on the deck. When they saw 
their champion go down the men raised a wild yell and shouting, "Kill 
them ; throw them overboard." they seized axes, hand spikes, pieces 
of lumber and whatever could be used as weapons which they found 
artjund the deck, and came pouring aft to attack us. Some of the 



13 

officers of the regiment were sick, some on detached duty, some were 
absent on furlough, and some on shore, so there were just sixteen of us 
to face the torrent. Without a word of command, perhaps by that 
instinct born of years of miHtary service, we Hned up across the quarter 
deck, each with a revolver in each hand. It seemed as if we would be 
swept away in a minute, but not a shot was fired, and they came pour- 
ing aft. Presently I saw one or two of those in front drop back and 
let others get ahead, and presently all stopped and glared at us like 
wild beasts. Then one threw down his axe and another his handspike 
and they all sneaked off toward the bow of the ship. Then we knew 
we had conquered. There was a thirty pounder Parrott gun lashed to 
the rail on the quarter deck, and, sending for the howitzer crews, we 
ordered the gun unlashed and the muzzle swung out so it swept the 
deck forward, and made them load it with cannister. Then we sent 
for the band and we sat around on the ([uarter deck with our revolvers 
in our hands and made them play for about an hour, but at every pause 
in the music we could Iiear the dying groans of the man shot. The 
surgeon had laid him on a blanket on the deck where he fell, and so 
great was his vitality that he lived for two days. Before that, while 
I was still in the infantry, I was in a fight where the man behind me 
was killed and the man first on my left was wounded, and I had a bullet 
tlu'ough my coat, which happily did not touch the hide, all in about 
five minutes, and I thought that was pretty strenuous ; but I can say 
it was but a Sunday School picnic compared to the time when, in the 
fading light of a summer day, sixteen of us lined up across the quarter 
deck of the old steamship IMeteor and faced a howling, rushing mob 
of TOO half-drunken devils in the absolute assurance that we had found 
the place where without poetry or trimmings we must either conquer 
or die. 

The ship sailed the next day. We went to Mobile, to the South- 
west pass of the Mississippi, and then to Brazos Santiago, Texas, 
where we landed on July od, 180."). We lay in camp on the sand hills 
for about three months, but soldiering had lost its interest, and one 
morning I wrote out my resignation and took it to the Colonel. He 
laughed and said he would sign it_, but 1 could not get it through. I 
took it to the Commander of the brigade and he signed it. but said as 
the Colonel had. I went on board a small steamer going up the Rio 
Grande to Rrow^nsville, arriving there the next morning. I went to 
the headquarters of Gen. Weitzel. He dennn-red, but signed it, saying 



14 

I would never get it past Gen. Steele, but with the expenditure of some 
eloquence I persuaded hini, and, returning to Brazos Santiago, took a 
steamer for New Orleans via Galveston. At Galveston I had to get 
the signature of Gen. H. G. Wright, and then went on to New Orleans, 
and, going to the headquarters of Gen. P. H. Sheridan, left the papers, 
being told to come back the next day. The next day I received a certi- 
fied copy of the order mustering me out, dated September 37th, 1865, 
making my service in the army all told, three days less than four years. 

With the order in my pocket, I returned to my room in the St. 
Charles Hotel, and, taking off my hat, looked at the crossed sabres on 
its front. With my pocket knife I cut them off ; then taking off my 
jacket, I cut off the shoulder straps and realized, not without a heart 
pang, that I was no longer a soldier. 

I still have the pistols which I held in my hands when we lined 
up across the quarter deck of the Meteor. I still have the crossed 
sabres and straps which I cut off in the St. Charles Hotel. They are 
not as pretty as they were forty-two years ago, but they still have for 
me a certain value. 



m&. 




/ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



II. -nil... iM^ii i» »« :'' I 

013 706 467 4 



LIBRARY OF CONGRES 



013 706 467 A 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1955 



\ 



\ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 706 467 4 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1955 



